Life story
Janko Kráľ was born on 24 April 1822 in Liptovský Mikuláš. He was the most tempestuous and most singular poet of the Štúr generation — a Romantic whose verses blazed with rebellion, solitude and a longing for freedom.
He studied law, but his heart belonged to poetry and revolution. In ballads and lyric poems such as Zakliata panna vo Váhu a divný Janko he created the image of a solitary hero who defies his fate. His language was wild, vivid and charged with inner tension.
In the spring of 1848, together with his friend Ján Rotarides, he tried to raise the peasants against their masters. For this they were imprisoned — Kráľ spent months in jail, and his revolutionary fervour marked him for the rest of his life.
Later he worked as a clerk in Zlaté Moravce, ever on the margins, ever alone. He died on 23 May 1876. He left behind poetry that, like few others, captures the restlessness of a free spirit and remains to this day among the summits of Slovak Romanticism.
Biographical information from public sources. Portrait: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).
Constellation of Life
Important milestones that shaped their journey.